It is inevitable that horizontal national news/blogs would send roots down to local audiences. Now we have a test case: the Miami edition of the Huffington Post.
So far Huffington hasn't put much money into the site, but its vertical ambition is intriguing. I doubt contributors are paid, but the local HuffPost formula could be an evolutionary jump. Seeding the site with national HuffPost stories (coded to Miami and Florida interest) and mashing them up with local derived stories with the HuffPost feel is an interesting concept.
I have no insight how the clash for viewers/audiences will work out for advertisers. (Jeesh, we have been doing this for years nourished only by true grit.) The Miami New Times, purely local, has its own sweet spot; the New Times jumps in with daily additions to its website, augmenting the weekly paper.
I doubt the HuffPost Miami is a threat to the New Times franchise. The Herald, on the other hand, is another matter. The paper is a jumble and sometimes seems to be published with a staff of three. It has given up on reporting local news with any kind of depth or consistency.
With a little investment, Huffington might find the keys to the web-based lock on profit from news. Blogs like ours will just have to sell to the highest bidder. And we'll post a link to the HuffPost site when it cross links with ours.
6 comments:
Unless they are paying for the columns in the Huffington Post, the writers will tire of donating columns.
I'm curious about what you mean when write: "Blogs like ours will just have to sell to the highest bidder." Can you tell us more?
Yesterday the huff post linked to the new times story on the port of Miami development plan enviro impacts. The herald's coverage on this?
i heard vanessa brito was hired by huffington post. i did not know she was a writer. i wonder how much they are paying her?
What? Brito? So much for credibility...
I'm not sure the Huffington Post has claimed to be a news source ... it's a blog. On the other hand, the Miami Herald has nerve calling itself a news source, and now pays blogs for news. It's a sad comment on the information available even to the people who make an effort to know what's happening.
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